Trip to Buy Car Radio Ends in Murder

WEST LAWN — Gustavo Reyes was a car mechanic and an audiophile. He went out one day to buy a car radio and never returned.

Reyes, 20, of an unknown address, was shot March 14 just before 10 p.m. on the street in the 3600 block of West 64th Street, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and Chicago police. He was pronounced at Mt. Sinai Hospital about an hour later.

No one has been apprehended in connection with his murder, according to Chicago police data.

Reyes had learned to change a car’s oil and tires at age 14, according to his sister, Jennifer.

“He spent most of his time in the garage working,” she said. “We used to make fun of him for buying speakers before he even had a car to put them in.”

Reyes eventually got a white ’94 Lincoln, which gave him an outlet for his tinkering. It also centered the teenager, who dropped out of Hubbard High School during his senior year.

His parents told him if he wasn’t going to study he was going to work, his sister said.

Though generally shy, Reyes was an attentive uncle to his sister’s two children. He would often order pizza for the family and play video games with his nephews.